An Important Step Forward

On Wednesday, dozens of residents, advocates, former police officers, and faith leaders spoke at a public hearing in City Hall in favor of Medaria “Rondo” Arradondo’s confirmation to become Minneapolis’ Chief of Police. It’s an important step forward for our police department, residents, and entire city.

During the past three years we’ve done a lot together to move Minneapolis toward community policing and building public trust by investing more than $1 million into community-driven initiatives to allow residents to decide what public safety solutions are best for their own communities.

I believe Medaria Arradondo is just the person to build that trust and connection and to take the next step in transforming the relationship between police and this city’s residents. I am not alone in that. Along with the dozens of people who testified at the public hearing on Wednesday, Rondo has thesupport of faith and community leaders.

As all of this support shows, Rondo is a respected leader in our city, and I’m proud I’ve had the opportunity to work with him. He’s skilled at building relationships between and within communities based on trust and communication. Just what our city needs most of right now.

A week from today the whole City Council will vote to confirm Rondo’s nomination as Chief of Police. I’m looking forward to continuing the progress toward the 21st Century policing and justice work we’ve begun with Rondo helping lead the way.